That’s a Good Question, and I Have an AnswerObjections to Libertarianism

I can easily predict what my non-libertarian friends are going to say to me whenever we talk about political issues. They raise objections to libertarianism that make sense from their own perspective, and I used to share that perspective, and I used to raise those objections. I gradually learned the answers by reading–reading F. A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, and (you either lover her or hate her) Ayn Rand. I have read other libertarian authors, but these guys and this gal are among my “must read” suggestions. (Some readers will point out that Ayn Rand was not a libertarian and that she didn’t like libertarians. That’s true, but the joke is on her because many people came to libertarianism because of her writings.)

Here I will give brief but (I hope) relevant and valid answers to some of the objections that my friends have brought up.

1. “How can you trust people with freedom when you know that people are greedy and selfish?”

Let me ask back: how can you trust people with power when you know that people are greedy and selfish? If people are greedy and selfish, then why would you give them the power to dictate how you run your life or your business, the power to tax you, or the power to put you in prison? That’s a lot of power to give to people whom you cannot trust because of their greed and selfishness.

2. “Don’t you like driving on roads?”

I sure do, and I would enjoy driving on even better roads. If the government did not fund the building of roads, then roads would be funded privately. Who builds the roads now? The government doesn’t actually build them; it hires private companies to build them. Those same companies could build roads even if the government weren’t the one paying the bill. And if the government weren’t paying the bill, there would be more accountability, since the road builders would have to keep their customers happy.

3. Have you turned liberal?

That’s what my conservative friends ask, but see #4.

4. Aren’t you too conservative?

That’s what my liberal friends ask. The answer to both questions is that I am neither conservative nor liberal. I have left that axis and operate on a different axis altogether. I am for freedom rather than control. Unlike either conservatives or liberals, I do not support the use of power to run other people’s lives. I have also grown weary of the fighting between the conservative camp and the liberal camp. Most of the things that they fight about would become irrelevant in a truly free society.

5. Don’t you want food that is safe to eat?

Of course I do, and I think it is my job to try to make sure that the food that I eat is safe. The government makes it harder, because they tell people that they can trust any food that they buy. After all, the government is guaranteeing that the food is safe. Some guarantee! What about all those outbreaks of food poisoning that you see on television? They are all occurring while the government is supposedly preventing them. No, I would rather require companies to prove to me that their products are safe for consumption without hiding behind government stickers and stamps that do not seem to actually protect us. If a private company’s own reputation were on the line, they would do everything that they could to keep their products safe. Private watchdog groups and consumer reporting groups would be helpful in this endeavor.

6. How would we educate the children?

Private schools exist now. They would exist if there were not government schools. Or communities could build schools with volunteer labor and could hire teachers with donated funds. Parents could form co-ops, which is what some parents do now. There are many ways that kids could get an education without having the government pay for it. This question and some of the others make a faulty presumption, which is that if a libertarian doesn’t want the government to do something, then he or she doesn’t want it done at all. Not so. Since I am a teacher, I obviously believe in education.

7. How can you be a Christian and a libertarian?

I can do it the same way that these Libertarian Christians do. I can do it because I love other people, which is what Jesus said to do. I want other people to have opportunities. I want other people to reach their potential. I want other people to live their lives under God and not under man. That’s why I support liberty as a Christian. I would like to ask you, if you are a Christian, how you can be a Christian and support controlling other people’s lives? Is that doing to others what you would have them do to you? Is that loving your neighbor as yourself?

8. Wouldn’t your approach allow corporations to control people?

How could they? They cannot tax people. They cannot put people in prison. They cannot force people to trade with them rather than with their competition. They cannot force people to work for them. They would not get bailed out if they fail. They would not have exclusive government contracts or exclusive licenses or charters. They would not get zoning laws to prevent competition from opening nearby. They would not be able to grandfathered out of the regulations that hinder new start-ups.

9. What about monopolies?

It is only with the help of the government that a business can control the production of a product or the provision of a service. Competition in a free market would prevent a company from being the sole provider–unless that company were already making the best possible product and selling it at the best possible price. In that case, customers would not complain. The moment that one company sells something inferior or sells it at too high a price, somebody is going to start selling a better product or selling the product at a lower price–or both. It happens now, and it would happen much more often if the government did not interfere.

10. Didn’t the free market cause the Great Depression?

No, and neither government did not get us out of it. That is what most of us were taught in our government-run schools, but if you go back and read the original sources, it was not that way at all.

If these answers don’t fully satisfy you, I would suggest getting better and fuller answers by reading any of the people I listed above or by reading from some of the linked websites.

Written by

A husband, father, missionary, teacher, pianist, amateur writer, and family historian. He earned a B. A. and an M. A. in English, but don't hold that against him. He turned from conservatism to voluntaryism over the course of several years of intense thought and Bible study.

One comment

For those who ask “How can you be a Christian and a libertarian?” These people are still interpreting the Bible as it was taught to them by by state corporations called churches headed by government-licensed agents called ministers. Of course they are going to see centralized government as central to life.

But the lessons Abraham, Moses, John the Baptist, Jesus and many more were about helping the people remember that there was a system of government that didn’t require what Paul called “gods many” (elohim – rulers, judges, magistrates).

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